


unmoved

by sinequanon



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Teen Wolf (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-26 00:59:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9854963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinequanon/pseuds/sinequanon
Summary: Stiles's dad has always had secrets, but it wasn't until the calls for inhuman registration started that Stiles learned the biggest one.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [IBDC: Teen Wolf](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4015201) by [moonstalker24](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonstalker24/pseuds/moonstalker24). 



> This happened because I read moonstalker24's "Ballad of a Prodigal Son" (chapter 11), and then watched the Captain America: Civil War trailer almost immediately after that. It's not much (nor was it meant to be), but I wouldn't be against adding to it some time in the future.
> 
> (P.S. All this time later, I still haven't gotten around to seeing the actual movie.)

Stiles knew that his dad had secrets.

Even as a child, he could tell that there was something more to his parents than meets the eye. His dad was always watchful, but more settled in his skin, like he knew things that the other deputies didn't; his mom always seemed so calm and self-assured, like nothing could possibly touch her.

(He could remember late-night phone calls, sudden trips that left his dad exhausted or angry, but those were easily overshadowed by all the happy times they spent together as a family. He didn't mind the secrets so much, because his parents were the best, and he knew that sometimes secrets were good things that protected people.)

When Stiles's mom first got sick, he would come home from school sometimes and find them arguing in the kitchen; on nights when he left his bedroom door open, he could hear them whispering to each other in Russian, his dad saying something about asking somebody for help.

Stiles knew, though, just like his mom did, that there was nothing to be done. Even if neither of his parents ever came out and said that she was dying, he knew anyway. He could see it in the way that his dad's smiles turned brittle and his hugs harder, and in the way that his mom’s nails dug into his arm, or when she accidentally called him by the wrong name.

His mom, who used to be so brilliantly alive, was slowly fading into darkness.

It scared him sometimes that she seemed more comfortable living in the darkness than she did with him.

<> <>

Stiles heard the term _bogatyri_ for the first time the day after the Hale house fire, when Laura came to their door looking haggard and seeking justice for her family.

“Uncle Peter told us that if anything ever happened, we should come to you,” the young woman said, pressing tightly against her brother where they both sat on the sofa. She hadn't understood at the time why Peter had made the suggestion (neither had her mother, she could tell), but looking at the man now, she could see what drew Peter to the Stilinskis, and it frightened her. She grimaced when she saw Stiles enter the room, but continued, “He never said why, but...I'm not asking you as a deputy, am I?”

“No,” his dad said simply, eyes hard as he regarded the young woman. “But the bogatyri aren't a weapon to be wielded. We pursue justice, not vengeance.”

Laura frowned, even as Stiles committed the term to memory to research later. Derek paled. “Are you a hunter?”

“Of a sort.”

“But your wife--” Laura began, only to break off at Stiles's questioning noise.

“Was a gentle soul, and far too good for me,” the man said, pulling Stiles into a hug that his son returned, even if he wasn't sure what was going on. He pinned the werewolves with a gaze that was far too knowing, and the Hales shivered. “You have no reason to fear me, Alpha Hale.”

Kate Argent, Stiles later discovered, was a completely different story.

<> <>

Surprisingly little changed after all of the supernatural revelations, though all of his dad's “work trips” made much more sense, now. Over the next few years, he met Mik and Ilya, two of his dad's friends, and threw himself into learning as much as he could about the supernatural world. He split his free time between hanging out with Scott and visiting Peter in the hospital, and life went on.

When Stiles was fourteen, Peter woke up and, when Laura and Derek chose not to come back to Beacon Hills, came to stay at the Stilinski house.

When Stiles was sixteen, Scott was bitten by a rogue alpha.

Four teenagers later, Peter (with the Sheriff's blessing), killed the rogue and became the new alpha of Beacon Hills.

By the time Stiles was eighteen, the new Hale pack was a strong, well-respected (if unique) force in the supernatural world.

Beacon Hills was not without its problems, but by the time the war over inhumans began on the other side of the country, the town had established itself as a magical stronghold with the Sheriff as its head, Stiles as its heart, and Peter as its claws.

(It would still be almost ten more years before Stiles found out his dad’s other secret.)

<> <>

By the time Stiles was twenty-three, the supernatural population of Beacon Hills had tripled. Over the next two years, it doubled again, thanks to an Underground Railroad of sorts for inhumans trying to make it to Canada.

By the time Stiles was twenty-six, it was an open secret that the town was full of people who were more than human. No one minded much, and when it came to light that their Sheriff was already rather famous in magical circles for protecting the weak, he somehow became even more popular.

When SHIELD came to town looking for inhumans, they found a place remarkably resistant to their advances.

Then Iron Man and the Black Widow showed up, only to be repelled by the combined forces of Lydia, Danny, and some truly impressive computer programs.

Captain America came next and, although the Sheriff took him in for a couple of weeks after an unfortunate run-in with Noshiko Yukimura, he was politely asked to leave after he had fully recovered.

The next few months were peaceful, for Beacon Hills at least, and then Mik called.

<> <>

Stiles wasn't sure how to describe the look that came over his dad's face when Mik told them that the director of SHIELD was going to be their next visitor, but he certainly wasn't expecting his dad to grab a bottle of scotch and disappear for two hours. A quick glance at Peter's face showed that he hadn't expected it either, and the two of them waited rather impatiently for the Sheriff to come back downstairs and explain exactly what was so worrisome about Phil Coulson.

“He used to be my best friend,” the Sheriff said when he rejoined them in the living room. “We served together. We were in Russia, on a mission. There was an ambush, and...I told them to go ahead without me.”

Several questions went through Stiles's head (each more outrageous than the next because even after his mom's death, he'd never seen his dad quite like this) but the first thing that came out of his mouth was, “Why?”

“It wasn't a normal fight, and they weren't equipped to handle it; and because at the time, it was the only way to keep you and your mother safe.”

“What happened?” Peter asked softly, and Stiles jumped. He’d forgotten that the alpha was even there.

The Sheriff shrugged, but his eyes were red. “Claudia was trying to get away from her family for awhile, and we had just found out about Stiles, and we just...started over.”

“Do you want to…” Stiles trailed off, unsure of how to continue. “Should we keep him out?”

Stiles's dad sighed. “If this thing keeps getting worse, we’ll want him on our side. So, we’ll let him in and hope he doesn't shoot me.”

<> <>

Coulson was surprised when he was allowed inside Beacon Hills with such little fuss. From the way Natasha had made it sound, the sentries at the border of Beacon Hills were just as likely to shoot him as they were to welcome him, yet he was let in almost immediately after a brief (but thorough) search of his person.

He was taken aback when a pair of baby-faced deputies escorted him not to the Sheriff's station, but to a modest home a few minutes into town, and he didn't bother to hide his shock when one of the men motioned to the door, but made no effort to follow him inside.

"The Sheriff can take care of himself," one of the men said with a smirk, "and, if he can't, Peter certainly can."

 The young man at the door introduced himself as Stiles, the Sheriff's son, and proceeded to feed him and talk his ear off about a variety of topics in a way that put Phil strangely at ease, despite the situation.

Nothing, however, could have prepared him for the way his heart pounded painfully in his chest when he figured out just who the Sheriff's son looked like, and he could be forgiven for the way he swallowed a cry at the sight of the man he'd loved like a brother standing before him.

“How?” he asked gruffly, pulling the other man into a tight hug.

Noah smiled ruefully. “It's a long story.”

Phil thought about all the things he should be doing, and stared at the friend he thought he had lost close to thirty years ago, and said, “I've got time.”

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the poem "The World Is Too Much With Us" by William Wordsworth.
> 
> The world is too much with us; late and soon,  
> Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—  
> Little we see in Nature that is ours;  
> We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! 
> 
> The _bogatyri_ were Russian folk heroes, and though I didn't explicitly mention it, Stiles's mother was one of the Zorya, a group of Slavic sky and light goddesses.
> 
> Next week: A Chris/Peter/Stiles fic.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
